Question: In the last couple of decades, how much of a change do you think
there has been in the perspective of spiritual people about the human
relationship to nonhuman animals?

"Overall, I've seen a gradually increasing tempo of change among spiritual
people about our routine mistreatment of animals in the three decades I've
been a vegan and activist, and I'd say that while the percentages are still
small, they are making an increasing impact on the consciousness and
behavior of mainstream secular society.

"For example, for the past twenty years I have been traveling full-time
presenting lectures and workshops to people in progressive churches
virtually every Sunday, and while it's constantly frustrating on one level,
I have to say that today the general consciousness 'and level of conscience'
is vastly different from what it was, say, twenty years ago.

"Veganism is on the map and recognized, and, I'd have to say, respected and
seen as a noble (if somewhat unattainable) ideal by many people. Curiosity
and confusion are rampant, as is fear of change, clinging to past habits,
and a reactive pushing back against what I believe is an ongoing awakening
of human consciousness.

"This is to be expected, and is natural, but the awakening is happening, I
feel, and it will bring us ever onward, at an accelerating pace, toward
vegan living (or our extinction or utter enslavement if we continue the
trajectory of conventional Western eating/living/thinking).

"I'm actually able to give lectures blatantly promoting veganism and
critiquing our current animal enslavement system in increasing numbers of
Unity churches and Unitarian Universalist churches.

"The entire UU denomination, in fact, has taken Ethical Eating as its
study-action issue for the period 2008-2012, and so there is active gnashing
of teeth and squirming about going on occasionally in these congregations,
as they peek behind the curtain, which is I believe, a wonderful and
necessary thing.

"There is also the Hallelujah Acres movement which is booming, and bringing
a 100% plant-based diet to the awareness of hundreds of thousands of people
who consider themselves conservative Christians... veganism is being
espoused by Ellen DeGeneres and other celebrities, and making a huge
difference among people who consider themselves progressive and spiritual.

"I'm actively involved in Buddhist groups, and it's heartening to see that
Thich Nhat Hanh, who has enormous influence, now requires all his monks and
nuns to eat a vegan (not just vegetarian) diet, and lay students to not eat
meat. Even the Karmapa, head of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism,
mandates that all monks be vegetarian, which was unthinkable twenty years
ago, and the Dalai Lama continues to maintain Dharamsala as a meat-free
zone.

"We also have Supreme Master Ching Hai and her community making tremendous
strides in bringing the vegan and spiritual message to the world through
their worldwide vegan chain of restaurants, now over two hundred strong.
This was unthinkable just five or ten years ago!

"And through their SupremeMasterTV internet television program, they bring
the spiritually-oriented vegan message 24/7 by broadcasting vegan-advocating
programming with cooking classes, interviews, and constructive news in over
twenty languages.

"The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is offering vegan
cooking classes in communities throughout North America, and this is
percolating into local churches, as well as the ideas in The China Study,
which is growing every year.

"Food not Bombs often works directly or indirectly through local churches in
using their kitchens, etc., to distribute free vegan food to the needy and
this is also helping to bring the vegan message to spiritually-oriented
people.

"The large organizations, like the Humane Society of the United States
(HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have outreach
programs to churches and church leaders, and the Christian Vegetarian
Association (CVA) is doing continuous outreach to Christian communities
through their literature and Internet presence.

"The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) continues to
promote vegetarianism (and increasingly veganism) around the world, and the
Food For Life program delivers millions of vegan meals annually.

"As another example, we have created the Internet-based Worldwide Prayer
Circle For Animals, with members from around the world who join in
consciousness every day at noon to hold all animals in our hearts and minds
with love and compassion and mentally repeat this prayer: 'Compassion
encircles the Earth for all beings everywhere.' This circle of
spiritually-committed people continues to grow.

"In addition, we see the booming yoga movement awakening to the ancient
teaching of ahimsa, or nonviolence, which is the essence of veganism, and
increasing numbers of yoga studios, like Jivamukti, are encouraging their
students to be vegan, and in the case of Jivamukti Yoga, The World Peace
Diet is a required text for all instructors in training.

"We also now have the first national ongoing conference that explicitly
brings together spirituality and veganism, the World Peace and Yoga Jubilee
that is held every October in the Cincinnati area. The Tree of Life
Rejuvenation Center in Arizona is a vegan healing center that explicitly
combines spirituality in its modalities as well.

"So from the perspectives of health, environment, and compassion for
animals, as well as spirituality, I see people awakening very quickly,
especially in the last five years, and it's happening much more quickly than
the mainstream media is letting on, from my perspective.

"A lot of the change is subterranean, and I think it's the result of
grassroots vegan activism and that it's absolutely essential that all of us
continue to urgently advocate veganism in our communities throughout the
world in whatever ways we can -- there is literally nothing more benevolent
or vital that we can do, in my opinion.

"At its core, veganism is a spiritual movement, based on the ancient wisdom
teaching of the interconnectedness of all life, and founded on the
compassionate yearning within all of us to bless our world and to celebrate
our lives creatively and joyfully on this magnificent Earth.

"Thank you for living this message in your daily lives, and for bringing it,
in whatever ways resonate for you, to our world and to help uplift human
consciousness to the truth that compassion and health are two sides of the
same coin."